An eyepatch can tell a lot about an anime character’s past. These characters are famous for concealing one of their eyes.
One of the best parts about character design is the fact that certain elements can be reused multiple times and even be turned into tropes without feeling trite or unoriginal in the hands of the right artist. Among the most common accessories given to anime characters as the “cherry on top” is the mysterious eyepatch.
A simple eyepatch can make just about any character look edgy or tough, giving viewers an idea of how they have faced pain or suffering in the past but still bravely managed to overcome it nevertheless. Here are some of the most iconic anime characters that wear a slick eyepatch.
Updated April 26th, 2023, by Christine Mendoza: There’s no end to the high supply of anime characters that don a mysterious eyepatch or decorative eye-covering. Whether it be purely for the sake of aesthetics or to cover up an injury, the addition of an eyepatch is (and likely forever will be) a mainstay in the world of anime and is sometimes the cherry on top of a character design; the final touch that solidifies a friend or foe as memorable and allows them to stand out. To keep the seemingly ever-growing list up to date, a few new entries have been added to keep fans updated on the coolest anime characters with one eye out there.
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15 Megumin
Series –
KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!Reason For Eyepatch –
To “conceal her magic powers”
KonoSuba‘s Megumin is the cast’s resident chunni. “Chunni” is short for the Japanese term “chunibyo” (sometimes spelled “chunnibyou”) that is used to describe characters (often young ones) that often have grandiose delusions about their self-importance, power, or knowledge. In short, chuuni syndrome is when a character (or perhaps an unfortunate real-life person) acts as if they are the main character in their very own fantasy anime.
Megumin is a perfect example of this phenomenon. When on the topic of her mysterious eyepatch, she enthusiastically explains that she must wear it as a means to conceal her magic powers. When asked if the eyepatch acts as a seal, she comes clean and admits that she just enjoys how the eyepatch looks and compliments her outfit!
14 Hange Zoe
Series –
Attack On TitanReason For Eyepatch –
Lost eye in an explosion
Hange Zoe begins her journey in the Attack On Titan world rather bright and starry-eyed. Way back in season one, Fourth Squad Leader, Hange, was in charge of researching titans when very little was known about them at the time. However, later in the series, Hange begins to harden and become cold, as the life of a Survey Corps leader is not for the faint of heart.
Hange eventually switches out their signature goggles for an eyepatch and a pair of eyeglasses (for their one good eye) after a dangerous mission. During a fight, Hange gets severely injured by the explosion caused by a titan transformation. Hange luckily survived the encounter in the end but lost their eye in the process.
13 Taupy Toplan (Toppy Topran)
Series –
Sands Of Destruction (World Destruction: Sekai Bokumetsu no Rokunin)Reason For Eyepatch –
Unknown
Sands Of Destruction is a 2008 anime based on the video game of the same title and features a small bear-like creature named Taupy (often time also spelled “Toppy”). Despite his adorable and teddy-like appearance, Taupy is not an enemy one can afford to underestimate! For starters, Taupy isn’t actually a bear. Taupy is a Feral bounty hunter that is one of the most skilled fighters among his group and even acts as a mentor for protagonist Kyrie Illunis.
Although Taupy does don an eyepatch, he has not stated if it was for the sake of covering an injury or mere aesthetics.
12 Gozu
Series –
PokemonReason For Eyepatch –
Aesthetic (?)
Gozu is a recurring character in the Pokémon series. He is a member of the notorious Team Rocket and naturally takes the role of an antagonist. Gozu is one of the more intimidating members of Team Rocket and serves as the Elite Officer of the prestigious unit called the Matori Matrix.
Despite always wearing an eyepatch, Gozu doesn’t actually have anything wrong with his right eye. Perhaps he simply thought it’d help him look fit for the role of a Team Rocket unit leader.
11 Jack Of The Chicky Chicky Gang
Series –
HamtaroReason For Eyepatch –
Unknown
There’s no such thing as an anime without an antagonist for the main character to go up against; for Hamtaro‘s Ham-Hams, they have the Chicky Chicky Gang. Similar to the Chicken Trio (despite their name, are three roosters and also have an eyepatch-wearing member), the Chicky Chicky Gang are the enemies of the Ham-Hams. The gang is a group of five chicks owned by Charlotte, a chicken farmer.
While their names remained a mystery in the animated series, three of the five chicks had their names revealed in Hamtaro: Rainbow Rescue. Marly is the smallest chick as well as the gang’s leader, Mike is the largest of the chicks, and Jack is the chick with the eyepatch. However, the reason for Jack’s eyepatch is unknown. Did he lose an eye? Did he simply copy the Chicken Trio? And if so, why does the rooster from the Chicken Trio wear one in the first place?
Hopefully, Hamtaro fans finally have their closure at one point and find out the names of Jack’s remaining two gang members.
10 Himeno
Series –
Chainsaw ManReason For Eyepatch –
Lost eye in a contract with a devil
Himeno is part of the government’s special Devil Hunter squad and is paired with her best bud, Aki Hayakawa. Being a Public Safety Devil Hunter, Himeno needs to adequately protect herself against rogue devils. One of the best ways to fight against devils is by recruiting the help of their own kind. In order to utilize the powers of a devil, one must sacrifice something as payment for their service.
In Himeno’s case, she had given up her right eye in exchange for summoning the Ghost Devil’s powerful arms. In the end, a single eye wasn’t too bad of a price to pay, considering the Ghost Devil’s incredible strength.
9 Pirate Bananya
Series –
BananyaReason For Eyepatch –
Pirate tactic/aesthetic
The most essential accessory for just about any self-respecting pirate, aside from a nifty hat, is, of course, an eyepatch. Pirate Bananya is the famous banana cat that is always in search of hidden treasure. In addition to his signature eyepatch, he sports a typical skull pirate hat with a feather as well as a little hook on his right hand.
Surprisingly enough, the adorable Pirate Bananya is voiced by Yuki Kaji, the voice behind Attack On Titan‘s Eren Jeager and My Hero Academia‘s Shoto Todoroki. Don’t be fooled by his cute outer appearance; he’s much fiercer than he looks!
8 Kenpachi Zaraki
Series –
BleachReason For Eyepatch –
To conceal his reiryoku
Kenpachi’s iconic eyepatch is actually not just for the aesthetics and actually conceals his reiryoku (spiritual power) while he has it equipped. It was created by the Shinigami Research and Development Institute just for the captain of the 11th Division in Gotei 13.
Kenpachi truly loves and cherishes the joy he gets from a good battle and a worthy opponent. In order to get the most out of every fight, Kenpachi must intentionally hold himself back from unleashing his full power; otherwise, he would defeat his opponents too quickly. Kenpachi only removes his special eyepatch for the best of the best of his enemies.
7 Midari Ikishima
Series –
Kakegurui/ Kakegurui MidariReason For Eyepatch –
Stabbed her own eye out with an ink pen
Midari is a second-year student at Hyakkaou Private Academy and is a member of the student council as well as the president of the beautification council. Midari is an incredibly dangerous girl that has masochistic and violent tendencies.
Midari wears her signature eyepatch to cover up the eye she had gouged out with an ink pen as a means to repay a gambling debt of 300 million yen she owed to the student council president and major series antagonist, Kirari Momobami.
6 Fuhrer King Bradley
Series –
Fullmetal AlchemistReason For Eyepatch –
To cover his Ultimate Eye
King Bradley is one of the main antagonists of the Fullmetal Alchemist series. He is a human-based homunculus and was known as Wraith in the manga as well as the 2009 animated reboot, FMA: Brotherhood, but was known as Pride in the 2003 anime series.
Bradley’s left eye is covered with his signature eyepatch to hide his “Ultimate Eye,” which is marked with the Ouroboros. This ability allows Bradley to predict his opponent’s moves and to see every variable or outcome in order to fight and defeat an opponent as efficiently as possible.
5 Kakashi Hatake
Series –
NarutoReason For Eyepatch –
To cover his sharingan
Kakashi is one of the most talented shinobi in all of Konoha Village. In Naruto’s earlier days in Team 7 with Sasuke and Sakura, Kakashi was their lazy yet reliable teacher. While Kakashi currently has his Sharingan, he wasn’t born with it.
During the Third Shinobi World War, Kakashi lost his eye to a sneak attack when protecting his dear friend, Obito. Obito, a member of the Uchiha clan and having Sharingan, gave Kakashi his eye to replace the one he had lost in battle as his last dying act to repay his friend. Since then, Kakashi opts to cover his left eye with his Konoha forehead protector.
4 Ciel Phantomhive
Series –
Black ButlerReason For Eyepatch –
To hide his Faustian contract
One day, a young Ciel came home to his parents and his family dog all brutally murdered. In a frenzy and trying to escape, Ciel then found himself and his twin brother being kidnapped and sold off to the highest bidder. While their kidnappers initially treated the boys well, they eventually revealed their true colors and began their cult’s sacrificial ritual, offering the young boys to their king.
During the sacrifice, a mysterious demon named Sebastian appeared, offering Ciel a contract in order to grant his wish and take revenge on those who wronged him. Eventually agreeing, Ciel was then given a seal on his right eye as the more visible the seal is, the more power it holds. In order to not draw attention to it, Ciel then quickly covered it up with an eyepatch.
3 Ken Kaneki
Series –
Tokyo GhoulReason For Eyepatch –
To cover his kakugan around humans, to hide his human side around other ghouls
Ken Kaneki is the half-ghoul protagonist in the Tokyo Ghoul series. After a date gone horribly wrong with a girl that turned out to be a bloodthirsty ghoul, Kaneki was left with life-threatening injuries that left doctors with no choice but to implant the organs of the ghoul into him, thus turning him into his half-ghoul state.
In the beginning, Kaneki wore a regular medical eyepatch in order to hide his kakugan eye to conceal his ghoul side from society. However, Kaneki eventually received his signature mask that covers most of his face, except for his left eye: his kakugan. Uta, the mask studio owner, explains that Kaneki’s mask allows him to see certain parts of the world that he normally cannot.
2 Asuka Shikinami Langley
Series –
Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) AdvanceReason For Eyepatch –
Damaged her eye in an attack from Unit 01 (under artificial piloting control) when piloting Unit 03
In the Rebuild of the cult classic, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Asuka is given a fairly different personality as even her name was overhauled, taking the original “Asuka Langley Sohryu” and rebranding her as “Asuka Shikinami Langley” instead.
While Asuka Sohryu does suffer an eye injury during a fight against mass-produced Evas from a Longinus Spear replica in The End Of Evangelion, it is Asuka Shikinami that is seen with an eyepatch instead. After being attacked by Unit 01 while inside Unit 03, in Evangelion: 3.0, Asuka is revealed to still have complete functioning of her eye and was now also infused with angel-sealing hex glyphs.
Honorable Mentions:Guts
Series –
BerserkReason For Eyepatch –
Unknown
While Guts does lose the use of one of his eyes during the horrific events of the Eclipse, he doesn’t use an eyepatch as most characters do after receiving an eye-related injury and instead opts for simply keeping his bad eye closed.
However, most fans may not know that the prototype version of Guts in the early rendition of the Berserk manga actually did wear an eyepatch right from the beginning! Eyepatch or not, Guts still pulls off the cool, tough-guy anime/manga protagonist everyone knows and loves.
Chifuyu Matsuno
Series –
Tokyo RevengersReason For Eyepatch –
Injured by Baji
Luckily, Chifuyu wasn’t permanently left with an eyepatch. First-division captain and best friend Baji Keisuke was forced to prove his loyalty to Valhalla after leaving Toman the only way he knew how: with his fists. Unfortunately, Chifuyu was on the receiving end of Baji’s flurry of punches. Baji beat Chifuyu so badly that the poor guy was left with bandages and an eye-covering for the next few days!
Of course, Chifuyu, being the loyal friend he was, trusted Baji and completely approved his decision to cross over to Valhalla for the sake of protecting all he held dear to him.
1 Denji
Series –
Chainsaw ManReason For Eyepatch –
Sold eye for money
At the beginning of the series, Denji was rather sickly and even had a few missing body parts, including his right eye. Denji began his story in immense debt and had no choice but to sell his body parts just to help ease the financial burden on his shoulders. However, this version of Denji only lasted for the first episode of the series as he quickly regained his missing body parts after being merged with his little pal, Pochita.
Fuente: successacademy.edu.vn
Categorías: Anime